Firstly, it is plain simple emotive headline grabbing to pronounce this case as attempted murder. The article itself does not make this claim; very likelty, this case will simply go down as ‘aggravated assault with intent to injure’.

Secondly, I find NZ Herald equally as bad – but at the other extreme, when they headline the incident as ‘River plunge follows hit and run’ – as though the river plunge is the tragedy to report.
NZ Herald – why not afford this man the same level of sympathy, and the woman, the same level of judgement, as you would apply if the roles were reversed?

Thirdly, I find the final paragraph just plain inexplicable – “Sadly just seven days out from White Ribbon Week, today’s incident also highlights the dangers associated with domestic violence and police urge anyone who feels unsafe in their home situation to seek help,”
WTF! White Ribbon is about violence by men on women and children. We don’t know what occurred prior to the assault with a deadly weapon – but sure as hell if this man had contacted police in fear of his safety, he is the one who would have been subject to an instant removal order. All she would have to say is ‘I feel threatened’!

Woman pulls herself free from car after 15m plunge into Waikato River – National – NZ Herald Newshttp://www.nzherald.co.nz
A woman pulled herself clear of her car after it flipped and plunged off a busy Hamilton road and into the Waikato River. – New Zealand Herald

This is absolute Bullshit. She was rescued by a man and his son who happened to be nearby, when she drove the car over a bank into the river.

The 15-year-old said he heard the man telling the woman that he was going to leave her “and then she ran him over”. “The first time we thought it was just an accident but then the second time we knew it wasn’t.”

Now this evidence has been printed in the paper things could get interesting.

I’m delighted the victim is alive and yes this charge seems appropriate given the video. Good on the Police putting it to the Court and not accepting the spin from the woman’s friends that such violence can be justified by allegations against the victim, or poor mental health.

Mr Patterson said despite the arrest enquiries were continuing and investigators still wanted to hear from anyone who witnessed Sunday’s incidents who hadn’t yet already spoken to Police and asked them to ring the Hamilton Central Police station on 07 858 6200.

How can any witnesses who haven’t yet come forward do so, if mainstream media is shutting down the reporting of this crime?

Hamilton hit and run case. The last I heard about this was that the defendant was due to appear in court on the Friday morning after the event. Has there been any media reports since? This case just seems to have disappeared.

Last updated 12:00 18/01/2014
STRESS BOILED OVER: Cassandra Albert has been sentenced to three years in prison for driving her car into her uncle, severing his right leg.

A Nelson man who lost a leg when he was pinned between a pole and a car driven by his niece says forgiving her has allowed him to heal.

Cassandra Renia Tewhei Albert, 26, of Nelson, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in the Nelson District Court yesterday.

In August last year a jury found Albert guilty on a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard. She was acquitted on a more serious charge that she deliberately caused grievous bodily harm.

The charges followed a dramatic incident on August 15, 2012, when Albert drove her car into her uncle on Wakefield Quay in Nelson, crushing him against a pole and severing his right leg.

The court heard that she had been angry at Albert over a disputed rent payment and made a “spur of the moment decision” to drive at him as he walked along a footpath.

While the jury was not sure that Albert meant to cause harm, they found that she recklessly disregarded her uncle’s safety by deliberately driving towards him.

There was an inherent risk that he might be injured, which Albert should have appreciated, Judge Denys Barry said when sentencing her yesterday.

It was revealed after the trial that Albert was on parole at the time of the offence. She had been sentenced to three years and nine months in jail in 2009 after admitting that she violently shook her four-month-old son in “a moment of madness,” leaving him permanently brain-damaged.

Together with her partner at the time, Newton Samuel Moki, Albert admitted charges of injuring with reckless disregard and failing to provide the necessities of life.

After being charged with the new offences in August 2012, Albert was recalled to prison and served the remaining nine months of her sentence.

She remained composed in the dock yesterday, though she wept as prosecutor Mark O’Donoghue made submissions on behalf of the Crown.

O’Donoghue said her sentence should be increased on account of the 2009 conviction for a “similar harm offence”. He said Albert had caused a serious degree of harm to her uncle.

Defence lawyer Tony Bamford said Albert had been dealing with “significant pressures” in her home life when she drove into her uncle.

Their dispute related to rent owed by Mr Albert. The court heard that he had the money but was “sadly fleeced” of it by a woman in an online dating scam……

Nothing much to see here really; if a jury can’t figure out that harm is intended by driving a car into someone then we have a real problem. Wait a minute; it was a man she was driving into and the poor wee lass was just under so much pressure and stress; okay – no issues there – carry on!

…so now she pleads guilty to a “lesser charge” of wounding with intent. So intentionally running someone over (more than once) is not deemed “attempted murder”. Hmmmm will remember that; might come in handy one day.

After seeing the recent case where the judge relied on ‘reports’ to excuse the female defendant from a jail sentence – watch this space – she’s already been assessed.

Leave a Reply

Please note that comments which do not conform with the rules of this site are likely to be removed. They should be on-topic for the page they are on. Discussions about moderation are specifically forbidden. All spam will be deleted within a few hours and blacklisted on the stopforumspam database.

This site is cached. Comments will not appear immediately unless you are logged in. Please do not make multiple attempts.